Collapsed Homes England-backed modular housing firm owed creditors £19m

The vast majority of debt was held in the form of inter-company loans, which totalled £31.2m for the two main modular firms (Urban Splash House Ltd owed £14.2m and Urban Splash Modular Ltd owed £17.1m to the holding company). Additional inter-company loans totalled £891,790.

However, a number of creditors including architects, engineering consultants and contractors are owed millions. The UK subsidiary of Japanese firm Sekisui House was the largest external creditor for the holding company, with accounts showing it was owed £7.9m in the form of a “term loan” from Urban Splash House Holdings Ltd.

In total, Urban Splash House Ltd owed creditors £20.8m, which included the £14.2m internal loan.

Urban Splash’s construction arm, Urban Splash Construct Ltd, was listed as owing £1.79m; law firm Eversheds was owed £163,000; and Turley Associates was owed £130,000. Architecture firm ShedKM was owed just over £80,000 in debt, engineering firm Arup was owed £64,000 and Ramboll was owed £43,000.

Salford City Council was also owed approximately £864,000.

The accounts show that Urban Splash founder Tom Bloxham exited the business as a director in October last year, resigning from his position as a person with significant control over the company on 1 October 2021.

Homes England held a 4% stake in the modular business, with Urban Splash and Sekisui House owning a 48% stake each.

In April, Homes England withdrew from the public its announcement that the Japanese firm had taken a multimillion-pound investment in the business that had originally been published in 2019.

Homes England is estimated to have invested approximately £30m in the business since its inception in terms of equity and debt funding.

Among the schemes House by Urban Splash has been working on is the high-profile Northstowe site in Cambridgeshire as part of a wider proposed 10,000-home development on land owned by Homes England.

It was also working on the East Float scheme at Wirral Waters, Port Loop in Birmingham as part of a joint venture with Places for People, and 228 new homes at the Grappenhall Woods site in Warrington.

A spokesperson for Homes England said: “As the government’s housing and regeneration agency, a core part of our remit is to drive positive market change, and investing in MMC is an important part of that. Increasing the use of MMC has the potential to deliver more energy-efficient homes to buyers, improve site efficiencies and reduce waste.

“We will continue to work with ambitious and innovative partners to help achieve this. We have made clear commitments to MMC including through the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26.”